Afghanistan, Poppies, Opium, Buy the Crop

Old-Salt

A few comments;
The main cash crop in parts of Afghanistan is the opium poppy.
The farmers can make more money growing poppies than potatoes (food crops).
The price of a field of poppies in Afghanistan is nothing compared to the price of the refined product of that crop on the streets of London.

The British Army should;
Buy the crop, and buy it at the field; (then burn most of it.)
And thus make friends with lots of Afghan farmers

A quantity of the crop is needed to make essential pharmaceutical products ( and the UK could then have a near world monopoly on medicinal opiates - big profit to be made here).

The UK heroin addicts will be crippled by a shortage and rising prices;
So they will have to commit more petty crimes for each fix
BUT
we give all registered addicts as much pure smack as they want
AND
They will OD on the pure good stuff they have never tasted before and
Voila !
Less addicts.

It is logical but is it a) Moral and b) Acceptable ?

What is the cost of buying up the poppy crop at the edge of the field compared to the cost of living with the cost of heroin addiction and all the associated costs such as the the treatment of addicts and the cost of the crime to fund their addiction ?

What is the cost of buying the crop to create loads of happy friendly Afghans compared to the cost of fighting loads of pissed off Afghans ?

Old-Salt

me wonders what the CIA are so busy doing in Afghan......... apart from shipping secrect prisoners on secret planes to stop over at secret places on their way to secret prisons... hmmmm oh wait nevermind... wasn't the CIA..... wrong, my mistake sorry.